Sacred Art & Iconography

Elijah Fed by the Raven (National Gallery of Art, 1961.9.35)

Oil on panel transferred to canvas, Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo, c. 1510, National Gallery of Art, Washington

Citation Formats

General Reference

Divinity Atlas. "Elijah Fed by the Raven (National Gallery of Art, 1961.9.35)." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://www.divinityatlas.com/sacred-art-iconography/elijah-fed-by-the-raven-nga-1961-9-35.

APA Style

Divinity Atlas. (n.d.). Elijah Fed by the Raven (National Gallery of Art, 1961.9.35). Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://www.divinityatlas.com/sacred-art-iconography/elijah-fed-by-the-raven-nga-1961-9-35

BibTeX

@misc{divinityatlas-elijah-fed-by-the-raven-national-gallery,
  author = {Divinity Atlas},
  title = {Elijah Fed by the Raven (National Gallery of Art, 1961.9.35)},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://www.divinityatlas.com/sacred-art-iconography/elijah-fed-by-the-raven-nga-1961-9-35},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

A large canvas by the Brescian painter Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo, dated to about 1510, showing the prophet Elijah seated in a rocky, wooded landscape by the brook Cherith, a raven descending toward him with food in its beak. The episode comes from the First Book of Kings, in which Elijah, having pronounced a drought upon Israel and fleeing the wrath of King Ahab, is sustained in hiding by ravens that God commands to bring him bread and meat morning and evening. Savoldo, known for his atmospheric handling of landscape and light, sets the encounter within a broad naturalistic setting rather than a symbolic backdrop, giving the miraculous provision a grounded, observed quality typical of his mature style. The canvas entered the National Gallery of Art through the Samuel H. Kress Collection, accession 1961.9.35.

Facts

Origins

Attributed To

Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo, a painter active chiefly in Brescia and later Venice, known for his atmospheric handling of landscape and light. 1

Cross-Tradition Connections